User:LTPHarry/sandbox

Playhouse Disney (partially lost UK version; 1999-2006)

A picture of Big Dave and Little Alex, the main presenters.

Status: Partially Lost

Playhouse Disney was a brand used by The Walt Disney Company for the preschool strand on Disney Channel around the world, and was also its own dedicated channel.

About

Playhouse Disney outside the United States for many years was completely different to it's US counterpart, featuring a format set within a live-action "Playhouse" set.

The United Kingdom was the first to use this format. The presenters who fronted this version were legendary children's presenter Dave Benson Phillips (Nicknamed as "Big Dave") and Alex Lovell (Nicknamed as "Little Alex"). The two would dance, sing, interact with the audience and do activities in relation to a "Day", where the focus would be on a related topic, like a hobby, an activity, a part of the body, an animal, or a character featured on the block/channel.

Other mini-segments featured in the main portion included a Birthday segment, which featured Dave and Alex interacting and dancing with a talking/singing Birthday cake named Victoria Sponge (Voiced by Michael Omer, the format's composer from 1999-2002, and Dave Benson Phillips from 2002-2003) and then later interacting with Mickey the Mouse, a real-life mouse who lived in a smaller replica of the Playhouse.

Viewer-sent Images were also shown off. Normally, Dave or Alex would retrieve these from the Playhouse Postman (played by Phil Gallagher) and would soon put them down. Then, two talking picture-heads/gargoyles named Auntie Rosie and Uncle Charlie (Voice actors unknown) would come to life when Dave or Alex was not around. Normally, they would trick the presenters by doing things like ringing the doorbell so they could talk while they never noticed. Normally, after the segments were finished, the two presenters would ask the viewers about them and would be certain they never did a thing.

Alongside this main format, there were several alternate programs/strands featured as well:

• Circle Time - Presented by Jason Canning, this strand featured Jason with a group of children who would draw, and would inspire him to tell a story told with pictures sent in by real-life viewers. It is very similar to a strand of the same name used on the US Playhouse Disney block. The strand was retired in 2003 after Canning's departure.
• Art Play - This strand focused on making and creating a Disney-inspired art piece or thing with items you can find at home. The first version was presented by Sara-Louise Harper, who did the work with some children. After she left in 2003 after pregnancy, she was replaced with a new presenter named Olivia Bonnochi, with the format changed to feature her and a puppet made out of household goods named Splodge doing the work themselves.
• Music Time - This strand featured Dave or Alex singing a Disney song on location.
• Bite Size - A cookery show made for children that originally debuted as a stand-alone program in 1998. Dave (as "Deep-Fried Dave") would make a Disney-related food dish with puppet Mitzi the Oven Glove (Puppeted and voiced by Cathrine Smee). In the show's early days, other presenters also fronted the program, known ones being Karl Wooley (as "Krispy Karl"), and Sophie Aldred (as "Stir-Fry Sophie").
• Paws - An animal strand fronted by a presenter named Nick Spellman. This segment was added in late-2000 and currently, is the only strand to be fully lost.
• The Story Corner - A story-book-related strand fronted by a woman named Pumpkin (Actor unknown). This segment was added in mid-2002.

In Mid-2004, a new strand titled PJ's Bedtime was introduced, shortening the Playhouse day. This new strand featured Dave and Olivia, helping the puppet PJ Mole (Puppeteered and voiced by Marcus Clarke) get ready for bed.

Days

Many of the listed days for each year are practically unknown as there has never been a full list featured, only 2002's entire listing has been found

1999

• Bear Day (Partly Found)
• Noisy Day (Partly Found)

2001

• Baby Day

2002

• Boat Day
• Flying Day
• Train Day
• Garden Day
• Carnival Day
• Silly Day
• Decorating Day
• Poorly Day
• Winnie The Pooh Day
• Time Day
• Shell Day
• Uniform Day
• Stanley Day
• Monster Day
• Holiday Day
• Cleaning Day
• Hair Day
• Excercise Day
• Hot Day
• Cold Day

Unknown

• Post Day (Partly Found)
• Space Day
• Bug Day (Partly Found)

Known Found Segments

Circle Time

• The Bouncy Ball
• Goofy's Christmas
• Henry the Hippo
• The Little Cloud
• The Magic Laces
• Lucy and the Lolly Sticks
• The Slowest Snail

Art Play

• Mitzi the Oven Glove

Other found items

A promotional VHS given out with Practical Parenting magazine was released in 2000, which contained especially-recorded segments of Little Alex showcasing what Playhouse Disney was about. Some of the clips featured on the tape were uploaded to YouTube by Michael Omer's official channel in 2009, and the entire tape was later uploaded onto the site by the user VHS Dump on March 28, 2021. The cover to the tape was also lost until it was ripped by VHS Dump to fellow Playhouse Disney archivist LTPHarry, who soon uploaded the cover to the Disney Wiki on Fandom.

A promotional CD sampler titled "Come On, Join In" was released by Walt Disney Records in Mid-2003 which featured three Playhouse songs, and three songs from different shows. This release is notable as it features the only high-quality version of the Bite Size song "We're Cooking". The CD is considered very rare, and its content was considered lost until user LTPHarry purchased a copy on eBay in February 2020 and uploaded it to the Internet Archive.

A full CD/DVD release titled "The Songs of Playhouse Disney" was released in September 2005 by Warner Vision International. The DVD consisted of sing-along versions of some of the songs featured on the CD. This release is also considered rare and goes for a lot online, although some of the clips from the DVD were previously uploaded to a now-terminated YouTube account. User LTPHarry soon bought a copy of this release as well and uploaded the Playhouse-related videos on YouTube, and uploaded the whole CD onto the Internet Archive.